Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I got locked in the bathroom this morning. Yes, in the bathroom. It was the kids' bathroom, so I'm glad it happened to me and not one of the girls. After a screwdriver was passed to me under the door I was able to remove the doorknob and get out, but I'm taking it as a sign -- a sign that I need to write about our Easter Weekend.

I've seen all sorts of posts with stories of egg-hunts and pictures of kids in their darling Easter Best, including bonnets and ribbons and argyle.

Here, you will see no such picture.

I will say that the Easter part of Easter was nice. The girls all had matching, simple dresses, and simple white sweaters, they loved what they received in their baskets (including kites, which we flew last evening), and we went to the cemetery to put flowers on our son's grave and had a nice talk about the resurrection and how nice it will be to be together as a family forever. I was even treated to an annoyed Superstar demanding to know, "Who killed Jesus?" and adding, "That wasn't such a great idea! They're so mean!"

But in other news...

On Thursday I noticed that Bubby had two red spots on the back of one of his legs, but I didn't think anything of it until Friday morning when Darin called me into Bubby's room and said, "Take a look at this." The backs of both of Bubby's legs were covered in a rash. I gave him a cool bath and was able to get him into the doctor that morning, where it was discovered that he had a fever and possibly strep (the rapid test came back negative but, as we learned with li'l ~j. a few weeks ago, so what?). I was told that the rash might be strep related, so we'd just wait to hear from the lab. When Bubby woke up from his nap on Friday afternoon, the rash had spread to the front of his legs and his waist, and they felt hot which I recognized as being hives. I called our nurse who suggested benadryl. Friday night we got his fever down, but the rash-upgraded-to-hives weren't getting any better.

Saturday morning, li'l ~j. had a soccer game and Darin (the coach) brought Curly along to watch. (As an aside, during the game that morning, a family from the other team let two of their children go sit in their van to warm up because it was a chilly morning. Somehow, these two kids got the van in neutral and as it happens, the parking lot is up a hill from the field... a runaway van rolled down the grassy hill headed straight for the girls playing soccer. Darin said he doesn't remember ever being so scared. Thankfully no one was hurt, and Bless the parent who was able to run alongside the van, open the door, and put on the brake.) When Bubby woke up I noticed that his hives had spread to his arms and back. More benadryl, another cool bath, and then he and Superstar and I headed to the mall, where we met the post-game rest of our family, to see the results of the coloring contest that the girls had entered. When we returned home, we played in the front yard until lunchtime -- soccer, wagon rides, bikes, talking fence-building with the neighbors, sidewalk chalk, eating oranges -- it was a nice, sunny morning. But I kept Bubby close by and worried. After lunch we colored our eggs -- let it be known that my oldest daughter is only weeks away from turning 9 years old and this is the first time we've colored eggs. I went to the mall after that, and when I was done, Darin took li'l ~j. on a date. That evening I called the after-hours nurse about the hives. She encouraged keeping up with the benadryl and said that she's seen lots of cases of hives in the past few weeks.

Saturday night/Sunday morning I woke up at 2, worried about Bubby, who was asleep on the couch with Darin. I sat by them until 4, at which point I went to Rite Aid (we had lost our thermometer and run out of benadryl). When I got home, they were awake, and so we gave him more medicine. Bubby (and I) went to sleep at around 6:am, just in time for the sisters to wake up and dive in to their Easter baskets. I woke up at a little after 8 and took a quick shower so that I could take the girls to sacrament meeting while Darin, who didn't have meetings that morning before church, stayed home with a sleeping Bubby. Once I got the girls to their primary classes, I drove home to tag-team Darin, who did have meetings in the late morning/early afternoon, but would at least be in the same building as the kids, so he could bring them home.

I snoozed for a bit on the couch and woke up to Bubby talking in his crib. When I went into his room and saw him over the crib rail, I started to cry. The redness had spread to his face and neck and had completely overtaken his arms. He didn't act like it was bothering him, but I gave him another bath and when I put a wet washcloth on his neck, he scratched. He also scratched his arm after I got him dressed. I called the on-call doctor and made an appointment and also called my friend Annie, who offered to take the girls so that Darin and I could go to the doctor appointment together (a real life-saver since, when I pick up my boy, who is 17 months old but weighs 31 lbs., I have contractions; plus, I was too emotional to go by myself).

The PA who saw us was very sweet and treated us as if she had all the time in the world. She diagnosed an allergic reaction to...whoknowswhat, and prescribed a steroid, which has taken an almost immediate effect on the hives, which now only look like light purplish bruises. There was also talk of my having passed on the crap that is asthma/allergies/hayfever (a wonderful package), and we're thinking about making an appointment with a pediatric allergist because we CANNOT, for the life of us, think of what might have changed in his routine to cause an allergic reaction like this (new foods, soaps, etc. -- it's all been the same).

Though the medication has worked on the hives, it has all but eliminated Bubby's appetite, and it makes him crazy -- he won't sleep well, and when he gets tired, he's so wound-up that he wants to fall asleep standing up, with me supporting his weight under his arms (this is not very fun). He's very irritable and gets frustrated easily, which is intensified by his inability to talk, so he sometimes runs into walls or bangs his head on the floor. He also has an asthmatic cough, which doesn't make sense because the medication is supposed to help with that, but it sounds like he smokes three packs a day.

27 comments:

Oh ouch! I'm so sorry. I also have to say it is really good you are having another baby because where oh where has your Bubby baby gone? He is so sweet, but he looks so grown up already!

I hope he feels better soon. And I don't know who you see for you, but I absolutely love Dr. Matheson at Provo Allergy and Asthma. He's not pediatric, per se, but I he's made a world of difference for me.

Poor bubby... he's so cute. I can't believe how big he is. How old is he now? AND... when you wrote about how you started crying seeing the rash creeping over his face - I about started to cry too. There's nothing that will make me dissolve into tears than when my babies suffer.

I have yet to color boiled eggs with my girls... I'm not ready for the mess ...

I cannot express adequately how much your well-wishes have meant, not only for my boy but also for me. Thank you!

UPDATE: I have stopped giving him the steroid. It was making him absolutely crazy, wanting to sleep standing up, etc., and he just wasn't himself. Diagnosis from the pediatrician is that this is an allergic reaction to a virus (Bubby's got a cold), so I guess we're just waiting it out. More benadryl, around the clock. But the hives are coming back. I'd rather have him look hive-y and be himself than have no hives and be completely miserable (him AND me). I'm also still leaning toward that consult with the pediatric allergist. But first things first: hearing test next week.

Ick..I have had to be on steriods before and they make you feel CRAZY.

Poor Bubby. We battle with Norah's skin. She is constantly covered in splotches like this and will scratch until she bleeds. We do a topical steriod each day but it really is a battle. We are off to the allergist too this week.

Is the hearing test coming up soon? Crossed fingers and hope that the hives go away.. I have heard that strep can cause a rash... but still? Poor baby.

He's a little colored Easter egg. And, I've been through the hives, the allergist, the pediatric allergy testing with both boys and the asthma with CJ. We had him at Primary Children's for advanced testing and we finally figured out the right stuff to treat all of it. It's all related, I have loads of info if you ever want to email me. utahfans@gmail.com

I am just hearing this news of the sick boy. I am sorr that you have to deal with this. being very preggers makes it tougher. I too have had sick boys. not to down play what you have had to deal with. Sick kids make me so sad.